Her Untold Promise
by Miss Herdenva
Summary: In the months after the war, the wizarding world is in shambles. As trials begin for the death eaters who mangaged to survive with their lives, a surprising heroine of war becomes Draco and Narcissa's saving grace. What caused the change of heart? What secrets does Hermione have? And how does it change Draco's life for the better? PostWar. OOC. Dramione. Rated M for later chapters.
1. The Trial Begins

Disclaimer: All Recognizable characters are J.K Rowlings. I do not own them. If i did, I would be rich :(

A.N: This is my first attempt at writing any sort of fan fiction or anything like that. So feedback is more than welcome!

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It had been months since the war had ended, and lord Voldemort had been killed. The trials for death eaters involved in the war started soon after and are still going on. It started out with the lesser known – nay the less important ones. Rookwood, Avery, Crabbe, Mulciber, and the like. I could give a shit about what happened to these people. They could rot in Azkaban, they killed people. Today, well today is going to be the start of the trials for the inner circle, the death eaters with all of the dirty laundry. Today – It's the trials for my parents. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. I'm curious as to what is going to happen to my father but, he was an evil bastard of a man and I could do without him returning to Malfoy Manor. Mother though, mother I hope catches a break. On the outside, to all of the other people she could be pretty, you know, nasty. But she raised me and when at home she did everything to divert my father's anger away from me and onto herself. She took good care of me and let down her guard when he wasn't around during the days before Hogwarts.

Looking around the court rooms, I could feel the sense of anticipation from the group here, in hopes of gaining justice for the lives lost. In late of the attack on the ministry, the people and the court rooms had been changed. While the building remained intact, the whole interior of the building had been remodeled. The courtroom still had the seats around the center of the room, and the floor still spilt to show the prisoner, but there was less of a dark and dingy feel to the rooms. Floors and walls had been replaced, they were lighter in color. The lighting had also been upgraded to more modern versions, and the seating itself took a change, and now were these plush, rowed seating. I am not sure if this was a permanent change to the room, or more for the sake of those required to be here for the trials.

As for the people. Well, I'm sure like me most are sick of being here. There had been so much pain after the war. There were people to be buried on both sides, families who had to say goodbye to more than one person. There was a blanket of stress and sadness that shrouded the ministry lately. Even though we all got here this morning, less than half an hour ago, we already all want to leave. So far days were long. They ranged anywhere from 12 – 14 hours. Guests were allowed only the chance to move during the very brief 20 minute recesses taken every two hours or so. Hopefully there would be a shortening of the days down to a mere 7-8 hours now that most of the easier trials were over and the more serious ones were to begin – the ones that would take if not days, weeks to complete. In either instance this change would make for a huge difference.

"Percy, welcome back to court. Are we ready to begin?" Rufus Scrimgeour asks the third of the Weasley clan and the scribe for the Wizengamot. He must've taken some time off after the twin either Fred or George, I don't remember, died. He nods, albeit minutely. "Okay fine, may we begin." The floors split and my mother rose from the ground. Her hands and feet were cuffed to the chair, and there was a guard from the prison behind her as a second level of protection. Like she was getting out of those chains anyways.

Her face looks gaunt, her cheeks and eye sunken in and they color of her skin a greyish color. The only thing that looks remotely the same was her eyes. They had that same glint in them that I remember from childhood. When she meets my gaze, she doesn't look as near death as I imagined she would. She had written me weeks ago, accepting her fate as a former death eater supporter. I was hoping that Scrimgeour would take a small pity on my mother, due to the fact that she was never an actual death eater. Maybe take her wand for good and give her a few years in Azkaban, then a life of parole. It had been a theme for those who fought in the second war, supporters were given a lesser sentence than the self-acclaimed death eaters.

Tuning out the typical legal proceedings given before every case, I took a look around the room, staring into the eyes of many of Dumbledore's army, I noticed a few faces missing. Some families were not in attendance because there were bodies still to be found. Not everyone had their closure and had chosen to stay out of all of the courtroom drama. Most notably though, Hermione Granger who, according to all of the heavies, had been seen at every single trial. Start to finish. Why I'll never know but now – she was missing. And Skeeter was definitely taking note of that, I think her pen was moving faster than we've ever seen her mouth run.

I hated not being able to speak on the behalf of my mother. She was a good person. I was asked to stay off of the list of witnesses, the lawyer thinks that testimony from me might hinder my mother's chances of ever getting out of Azkaban.

"I spent most of my life married to a Death Eater," my mom began "As a house rich in pure blood traditions, marrying a man of just as strong beliefs was important to my family. When my marriage was arranged, it was planned from the time I was 6. Play dates arranged and marriage contracts signed. I had no idea. When I was young – maybe 4 months into my first year at Hogwarts, I quickly became infatuated with a boy in my grade. My mother and father quickly, I might add, sat me down and explained to me that a family friend a year ahead of me was to be my husband. Hopefully in the same year we graduated."

I sigh, knowing fully of my family's history with planned and arranged marriages. Knowing how secretly unhappy my mother was with her the choice that was made for her. Knowing how she purposely talked my father out of my arranged marriage with Astoria. For which I am eternally grateful. I listened to my mother give a more that detailed explanation of her life with my father and his controlling ways. Hopefully she would be able to tap into the Wizengamot's emotional side. It looked to be working.

Then all of the sudden she steps out. The Heroine of the war. Hermione Granger herself. Bloody hell, what was going on?


	2. Hermione's Tale

Disclaimer, I do not own the harry potter franchise, if i did Draco and Hermione would have been married and would have had lots and lots of babies.

Also please review! I have never written a fic before. and I decided to jump into it.

POV - Hermione

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Shaking, I drew in a deep breath before looking over at Draco. Little did he know that I would be testifying on his mother's behalf in just a few short hours. Merlin. That's going to shake the wizarding world to it's core. Good thing Skeeter's here to twist my words like always. Hah. This is the last break that we get today before Narcissa's trial, so I should probably leave quietly and prepare myself before having to talk about the skirmish that happened at the Malfoy Manor. I take my time gathering my things and walking out with the masses, quickly slipping away as to avoid the attention of the rest of the courtroom.

I know that not only did I have two hour and 45 minutes until I was to report for my testimony, but that the secretarial witches for the courts will send an owl my way giving me a 15 minute heads up. Deciding to get away from the chaos inside the courtroom I quickly head to the floo network in the ministry and back to my own home for a few minutes to grab lunch and then my notes to make sure I knew exactly what I was going to say today. Sighing I lounged in my chair, while casting an accio charm to pull an apple my way. Throwing it in my bag, I grab a quill, pet Crookshanks and then floo back to the ministry.

Taking a seat in the cafeteria, I quickly put in headphones and turned on music, the one muggle thing I allowed myself. Turning on some Bach, I quickly turn back to my notes slowly recounting _every single_ detail about that night. Even the more uh – painful parts. Lovely. Getting lost in the music, I find myself sitting back in my chair and closing my eyes. Letting the beat ebb and flow through me calming my nerves and relaxing me to my bones. Loosing track of time, my wand goes off warning me that I've got a simple half hour before my company is requested. Sighing I collect my things, slowly making my way to the lift.

Arriving outside of the doors to the courtroom, I quickly center myself, pushing my way through the doors and into the center of attention. Avoiding _his_ gaze, I look quickly to Narcissa, my breath catching in my throat. This beautiful woman is broken down by war and prison. Her body sickly, her skin even paler. If that could actually be possible.

"Hello, Minister." Nodding in his direction. He nodded back.

"Hermione dear, Hello." His smile showed in his eyes, his sincerity showing. "All right. As a switch in pace, I am going to make a warning here for those still sensitive to violence. To those who don't want to bare witness to another recounting of violence against children, please feel free to leave my courtroom now." He pauses, scanning the courtroom for any sign of hesitation or movement before beginning. A few of the parents in the courtroom make eye contact with me, sensing my nervousness. Before nodding and settling into their seats again.

"Okay, let's begin." Taking a deep breath, the minister asks me the first question. "For court records, can you please spell your full name?"

"Yes. H-E-R-M-I-O-N-E G-R-A-N-G-E-R" I hate this part. It had been a part of every trial so far and the only thing it was doing was causing my anxiety spike more than it already had.

"Okay. So where were you on 16 March, 1998?" I heard a couple of small gasps from the crowd, those from the inner circle of Dumbledore's army knew that day by heart.

"I was on the hunt for the other horocruxes with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. When harry accidentally triggered the Taboo curse when mentioning Voldemort's name." Even now with him being dead, many in the crowd cringed. "When the snatchers arrived it was clear that we were going to have to hide Harry's identity and I used a Stinging hex in an attempt to conceal it." I took a deep breath. I hated talking about this, and I could tell my voice was going to start to crack if I didn't center myself. "Sadly our concealments didn't work as planned, and Greyback decided to take us back to Malfoy Manor where we could be properly identified and someone with the dark mark, I am assuming, could contact Voldemort directly."

"Okay so you were kidnapped by Fenrir Greyback and taken to the Malfoy Manor?" I could tell the judge didn't want to have to talk about what happened with Bellatrix, but I knew that it was necessary.

"Yes. There were a group of snatchers. They were led by Greyback. Upon arrival at the manor, we were led in my none other than Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy herself." I stop glancing back at the woman behind me in cuffs, smiling slightly to her. "When we got there, her son seemed eager to turn in Harry, but I don't think he was willing to let us get hurt. I think there was some humanity left." I nod in Draco's direction, seeing his gaze quickly snap up to meet my own. "At that point, Mr. Malfoy walked in, also very eager to redeem himself to the dark lord and he very quickly got into an argument with Bellatrix Lestrange about who was going to be summoning the dark lord."

I could see the minister nodding, taking notes of his own. "Continue. I'll stop you at any point if I have a question."

I drew a deep breath. "When they were arguing, Narcissa bent down to me. She told me that if we could all just get through whatever was about to happen that none of us would die. I didn't know then that she meant she was going to protect us. I just thought she was working with Bellatrix and Lucius at that point and knew that I better just go along with it."

"So you and Mrs. Malfoy had words during the skirmish?"

I nodded "Yes." He nodded as a sign to continue. "Later on, the boys were pulled down to the cellar and Bellatrix and I were left alone. She thought as a muggle-born I would be the one to crack first and spill all of the secrets. While she started torturing me, I noticed that Mrs. Malfoy was in the room, she repeatedly kept mouthing – Or whispering I am not really sure, that she was so sorry." I took a deep breath. "I pretended to now be unconscious. I figured if I "played dead" that the attack would lessen, and I would survive with my life intact."

I heard a few sniffles and was surprised to see them not only coming from Mrs. Weasley, but from Narcissa herself. "When harry and Ron broke in, Narcissa half attempted to cast spells while making her way over to me, she knelt down next to me, assuming that I was at least unconscious and apologized over and over. I felt her place something in my pocket. I didn't know what it was at the time, and I figured I could eventually look at it if I made it out alive. I opened one of my eyes at that point and met her gaze, and you could see the tension in her body dissipate now that she knew that I was only injured and I wasn't truly dead."

A.N. I know that this is OOC. I meant it to be this way, please don't kill me. Also I wasn't sure what actual day the skirmish at the manor was, just that it was around the Easter holiday from Hogwarts because Malfoy would have been there. So yeah. Please leave a review. It would mean the world.


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